Sunday, February 9, 2014

John Gerard Bruton (born 18 May 1947) is an Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 1994 to 1997. A minister under two taoisigh, Liam Cosgrave and Garret FitzGerald, Bruton held a number of the top posts in Irish government, including Minister for Finance (1981–1982 and 1986–1987), and Minister for Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism (1983–1986). He became leader of Fine Gael in 1990 and served as Taoiseach from 1994 until 1997, leading the Rainbow Coalition government of Fine Gael–Labour Party–Democratic Left.

Bruton was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a TD for Meath in 1969, and served continuously until his retirement from domestic politics in 2004. He served as the Ambassador of the European Union to the United States from 2004–2009, and is a former Vice-President of the European People's Party (EPP).﻿

John Gerard Bruton was born to a wealthy, Catholic farming family in Dunboyne, County Meath and educated at Clongowes Wood College.

Oliver Coogan notes in his Politics and War in Meath 1913–23 that Bruton's granduncle was one of the farmers in south Meath who prevented the traditionally Anglo-Irish ascendency hunt from proceeding in the area during the Irish War of Independence.

Bruton later went on to study at University College Dublin where he received an honours Bachelor of Arts degree and qualified as a barrister from King's Inns, but never went on to practice law. Bruton was narrowly elected to Dáil Éireann in the 1969 general election as a Fine Gael TD for Meath. At the age of 22 he was one of the youngest ever members of the Dáil at that time. He more than doubled his vote in the general election of 1973, which brought Fine Gael to power as part of the National Coalition with the Labour Party. Bruton was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce and to the Minister for Education, by the National Coalition in 1973. He remained in office until 1977.

He is married to Finola Bruton and they have four children.

Following Fine Gael's defeat at the 1977 general election, Bruton was appointed to the new front bench as Spokesperson on Agriculture by its new leader, Garret FitzGerald. He was later promoted to the shadow Finance portfolio, making a particular effective speech in the Dáil in response to the budget of 1980. He played a prominent role in Fine Gael's campaign in the 1981 general election which resulted in another coalition with the Labour Party and with FitzGerald as Taoiseach. Bruton received a huge personal vote in Meath, and at the age of only 34 was appointed Minister for Finance, the most senior position in the Cabinet. The new government had to abandon its election promises to cut taxes in the light of overwhelming economic realities. The government collapsed unexpectedly on the night of 27 January 1982 when Bruton's controversial Budget was defeated in the Dáil. The previously supportive independent socialist TD, Jim Kemmy, voted against the Budget, which proposed among other things the introduction of VAT on children's shoes, thus causing the Dáil to be dissolved and Fine Gael to lose power.

The minority Fianna Fáil government which followed only lasted until November 1982 when Fine Gael once again returned to power in a coalition government with the Labour Party but when the new government was formed Bruton was moved from Finance to become Minister for Industry and Energy. The following year (1983), Energy became a separate Department and Bruton's brief became Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism. A 1986 Cabinet re-shuffle saw Bruton return as Minister for Finance. Although he was Minister for Finance, Bruton never presented his Budget. The Labour Party withdrew from the government due to a disagreement over his budget proposals leading to the collapse of the government and another election.

Following the 1987 general election Fine Gael suffered a heavy defeat. Garret FitzGerald resigned as leader immediately, and a leadership contest ensued between Alan Dukes, Peter Barry and Bruton himself. The exact result of the vote was not published. This was a severe blow as the victor, Dukes, was, like Bruton, one of the younger generation of politicians (albeit a couple of years older than Bruton) but had been a TD for 12 years fewer. Bruton was of Fine Gael's Christian Democrat tradition, whereas Dukes was in FitzGerald's Social Democratic mould. Dukes was perceived to be a lacklustre leader however, who alienated his party's TDs and made little progress in recovering the ground lost by Fine Gael in 1987. His Tallaght Strategy where he stated that he would support Fianna Fail on economic reforms was also unpopular. The disastrous performance in the 1990 presidential election in which the party finished a humiliating and unprecedented third in a national election,proved to be the final straw for the party and Dukes forced to resign as leader shortly after. Bruton, who was the deputy-leader of Fine Gael at the time, was unopposed in the ensuing leadership election.

Whereas Dukes came from the social democratic wing of Fine Gael, Bruton came from the more conservative wing. However to the surprise of critics and of conservatives, in his first policy initiative he called for a referendum on a Constitutional amendment permitting the enactment of legislation allowing for divorce in Ireland.

Fine Gael had been in decline for nearly a decade; from the highpoint of the November 1982 general election when it achieved 70 seats in Dáil Éireann, only five seats short of Fianna Fáil's total the party had lost a considerable number of seats. Following the inexperienced Dukes' disastrous period of leadership, Bruton's election was seen as offering Fine Gael a chance to rebuild under a far more politically experienced leader. However Bruton's perceived right wing persona and his rural background was used against him by critics and particularly by the media.

By the 1992 general election, the anti-Fianna Fáil mood in the country produced a major swing to the opposition, but that support went to Labour, not Bruton's Fine Gael, which actually lost a further 10 seats. Due to deadlocked negotiations for government which stemmed in part from Labour Party's refusal to be part of a coalition which would include the liberal conservative Progressive Democrats and due to John Bruton ruling out Labour's preference for Democratic Left to be included in the government, the Labour Party chose to enter into a new coalition with Fianna Fáil. It was a humiliating blow to Bruton. Fine Gael, and Bruton personally, continued to perform poorly in opinion polls throughout 1993 and early 1994 and Bruton narrowly survived a challenge to his leadership in early 1994. However a couple of by-election victories, and a good performance in the 1994 European elections, coupled with a disastrous showing by the Labour Party, shored up his position. When in late 1994 the government collapsed, Bruton was able to form a government with the Labour Party and Democratic Left. Bruton faced charges of hypocrisy for agreeing to enter government with Democratic Left, as Fine Gael campaigned in the 1992 general election on a promise not to enter government with the party. Nevertheless, on 15 December, aged 47, Bruton became the then youngest ever Taoiseach. This was the first time in the history of the state that a new government was installed without a general election being held.

Bruton's politics were markedly different from most Irish leaders. Whereas most leaders had come from or identified with the independence movement Sinn Féin (in its 1917–22 phase), Bruton identified more with the more moderate Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) tradition that Sinn Féin had eclipsed at the 1918 general election. He hung a picture of his political hero, the IPP's leader John Redmond on a wall in his office as Taoiseach, in preference to other figures such as Patrick Pearse. But as evidence of Bruton's complexity, he also kept a picture of former Fianna Fáil Taoiseach Seán Lemass, which had been hung there by Reynolds, and which Bruton kept because he viewed Lemass as the best and most reforming Taoiseach in the history of the state.

Bruton's Rainbow Coalition was generally perceived to be a good government, with Bruton, who was meant to have had a bad relationship with Tánaiste Dick Spring, being seen as its star performer. His popularity soared while he and Spring (along with Proinsias De Rossa, leader of Democratic Left) were seen as an effective team. Constitutional reform was also on the government's agenda when a referendum to abolish the prohibition on divorce was passed by a narrow majority.

Continued developments in the Northern Ireland peace process and his attitude to Anglo-Irish relations came to define Bruton's tenure as Taoiseach. In February 1995 he launched the Anglo-Irish 'Framework Document' with the British Prime Minister, John Major. This document outlined new proposed relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Many of Bruton's opponents considered him to be too willing to accommodate unionist demands (in one famous accusation, Albert Reynolds referred to him as "John Unionist"). However, he took a strongly critical position on the British Government's reluctance to engage with Sinn Féin during the IRA's 1994–1997 ceasefire. Bruton complained to a local radio reporter in Cork that "I am sick of answering questions about the fucking peace process", for which he later apologized.
Bruton also established a working relationship with Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin, however both were mutually distrustful of each other. The relationship became frayed following the ending of the ceasefire in 1996, resulting in a bomb explosion in London. These relations worsened when the IRA killed Jerry McCabe, a member of An Garda Síochána, in a botched post office robbery in County Limerick, and another bomb explosion in Manchester. However, Bruton received widespread praise in the Republic for condemning the Royal Ulster Constabulary for yielding to loyalist threats at Drumcree by allowing members of the Orange Order to parade through a nationalist district. He stated that the RUC had been neither impartial nor consistent in applying the law. His outrage and criticism led to a tense atmosphere between London and Dublin. By the time of the 1997 general election Sinn Féin stated that they would prefer a Fianna Fáil led government and the IRA resumed their ceasefire soon after Fine Gael lost the 1997 general election.

He also presided over a successful Irish Presidency of the European Union in 1996 and helped finalise the Stability and Growth Pact, which establishes macroeconomic parameters for countries participating in the single European currency, the euro. Bruton was the fifth Irish leader to address a joint session of the United States Congress on 11 September 1996, as the 30th head of state or government of an EU country to do so since 1945.

Bruton's government suffered from some allegations of corruption, and political embarrassment. In 1996 his Minister for Transport, Michael Lowry, resigned from the Cabinet after allegations that he had not paid income tax on payments from the supermarket tycoon, Ben Dunne for work he had done for him as a businessman prior to becoming a minister. His minister of state in the Department of Finance also resigned, on 9 February 1995, as a result of leaks from the department. Additionally, many years later Frank Dunlop made allegations before the planning tribunal that he had informed Bruton about demands for a £250,000 bribe made to him by a Fine Gael Dublin councillor, Tom Hand, to rezone the Quarryvale development. Dunlop testified that when he informed Bruton of the bribery attempts, Bruton replied, "There are no angels in the world or in Fine Gael". Bruton vehemently denied this and Fine Gael counsel told the Planning Tribunal in 2003: "I refute entirely Mr Dunlop's contention that he advised me then of the alleged demand made to him by the late Tom Hand". However, following further evidence at the Tribunal, Bruton returned to it in October 2007 and conceded that "it gradually came back to me", that Dunlop, "did say to me something about a councillor looking for money". But, in his own evidence to the tribunal in 2007, Dunlop himself said that he had not mentioned any figure of 250,000 to Bruton in his 1993 conversation with him.

Bruton presided over the first official visit by a member of the British Royal Family since 1912, the Prince of Wales. His welcome speech to Prince Charles was viewed by many journalists negatively in Ireland. In Britain, The Times of London accused him of being "embarrassingly effusive" while The Guardian lambasted that Bruton get a grip on his "extravagantly nonsensical attitudes". Bruton himself viewed the fact that the heir to the British throne could visit the Republic successfully, as marking an important turning point in Anglo Irish relations and stands over the comments he made as appropriate in the circumstances.
Following the murder of crime journalist Veronica Guerin, his government established the Criminal Assets Bureau.

The government was widely expected to win re-election in 1997. While Fine Gael gained nine seats, Labour was severely mauled, losing 16 seats. This left Bruton far short of the parliamentary support he needed to retain office, and he resigned. A Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrat coalition led by Bertie Ahern came into power, with Bruton reverting to leadership of the opposition.

Fine Gael became paralysed in opposition. Bruton was deposed from leadership in 2001 in favour of Michael Noonan, due in part to fears Fine Gael would suffer severe losses in the 2002 election. However, Noonan failed to live up to expectations and the party suffered an even greater collapse than had been expected under Bruton. Having gone into the election expecting to increase its seat count from 54 to 60, it only won 31. This not only tied Fine Gael's second-worst performance in an election, but was 39 seats less than at its highpoint twenty years earlier in 1982.

Bruton, a passionate supporter of European integration, was chosen as one of the two Irish Parliament Representatives to the European Convention which helped draft the proposed European Constitution. He was one of two National Parliament Representatives to sit on the 12-member Praesidium, which helped steer the European Convention. He is a member of the Comite d'Honneur of the Institute of European Affairs, along with Peter Sutherland and Bertie Ahern. He accepted an offer to become European Union ambassador to the United States in the summer of 2004, and after resigning from the Dáil on 31 October 2004, he assumed that office. Bruton was praised by Ahern, who said Bruton had played "a pivotal role in developing Ireland's relations with the European Union."
Bruton received an Honorary Doctorate from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2003 and from the University of Missouri in 2009.

He became an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society before leaving for the US in 2004. He regularly lectures at national and international universities. In early 2004 he accepted a position as Adjunct Faculty Member in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. In November 2008, he received the Order of the Polar Star award from the Swedish government.
His brother, Richard Bruton, was formerly deputy leader of Fine Gael.

On 29 October 2009, it was announced that he had written to the ambassadors to the United States of the 27 members of the European Union expressing his interest in applying for the position of president of the European Council following implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. Bruton was very much an outside shot for the position as EU leaders firmly indicated they want a chairman-style president rather than a high-profile figurehead to fill the post. Herman Van Rompuy, the then Belgian Prime Minister, was appointed President on 19 November 2009 and took office on 1 December 2009.

On 21 May 2010, it was announced that he would be the chairman of the newly formed financial services body, IFSC Ireland. His main role will be to promote the Republic of Ireland as a location of choice for international financial services.

Bruton was widely discussed as a candidate for the 2011 presidential election and was approached by Fine Gael with the opportunity to become their candidate; on 28 May 2011, however, Bruton issued a statement that he was "flattered" to be asked, but would not be a candidate for the presidency.
Since November 2011, Bruton acts as an advisor to Fairobserver focusing mainly on the areas of politics, finance and economics as well as on issues pertaining to Europe.
Bruton receives annual pension payments of €141,849.

Martin Finn (22 August 1917 – 7 March 1988) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, farmer and auctioneer. He was elected to Dáil Éireann for the Mayo East constituency at the 1969 general election and was re-elected at the 1973 general election. He lost his seat at the 1977 general election but was nominated by the Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave to the 13th Seanad.

Michael J. Noonan (4 August 1935 – 17 September 2013) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He served as Minister for Defence from 1987 until 1989.
Michael J. Noonan was born in Bruff, County Limerick in 1935. He was educated locally at Salesian College in Limerick, before graduating from University College Cork with a Diploma in Rural Science. Following his education Noonan worked as a farmer before becoming involved in politics. He first entered local politics when he was elected to Limerick County Council in 1967 and remained a member of this council until 1991. Noonan was elected to Dáil Éireann on his first attempt as a Fianna Fáil TD for the Limerick West constituency at the 1969 general election.
Noonan was a supporter of Charles Haughey in the Fianna Fáil leadership election in 1979. He was rewarded by Haughey by joining the party's front bench in 1983 as spokesperson on Agriculture. Noonan was appointed Minister for Defence in 1987. He caused some controversy in this role and got into conflict with the Irish Army over the issue of pay. After the 1989 general election when Fianna Fáil went into coalition with the Progressive Democrats, Noonan was the major casualty to accommodate the new ministers. He was appointed a Minister of State and remained in this office until 1992. When Albert Reynolds became Taoiseach, Noonan was sacked.

Noonan subsequently retired to the backbenches. He remained a controversial figure by voting against the Divorce referendum bill in the Dáil and lost the Fianna Fáil party whip as a result. He retired from political life at the 1997 general election.
He died on 17 September 2013.

Michael Herbert (17 May 1925 – 20 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician.
A publican from Castleconnell, County Limerick, he unsuccessfully contested the 1965 general election and was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1969 general election as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Limerick East constituency. He was re-elected for the constituency until the 1981 general election when he did not stand for re-election. He was again unsuccessful in the November 1982 election.

While a TD, Herbert served as a Member of the European Parliament from 1973 to 1979, being appointed to Ireland's first delegation, second delegation and third delegation.

In the first direct elections to the European Parliament in December 1979 he stood in the Munster constituency but was not elected.

He played hurling as a full-back with the Limerick Senior Hurling team, with whom he won a National Hurling League medal in 1947, and also with his local club Ahane. He retired prematurely from the game following a serious head injury sustained in a club match in 1949. His brothers Seán Herbert and Tony Herbert were also hurlers with Limerick and his son Turlough Herbert was a member of the Limerick senior hurling panel for the 1994 All-Ireland final.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

"Ireland and New Orleans share a common bond of suffering and loss, and a spirit of endurance and hope in the face of catastrophe" writes:

Ireland’s Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, has announced that New Orleans – one of the oldest and most prominent cities in the United States – will be the location of the 2014 International Famine Commemoration.

Deenihan said “‘As Chair of the National Famine Commemoration Committee, I am very much looking forward to working with the ‘Irish Network of New Orleans’, the city’s Hibernian groups and the local community to make the arrangements for next year’s International Famine Commemoration programme. I am sure it will be a very special and moving tribute to those who suffered and perished during the Great Irish Famine and also a vibrant celebration of the immense achievements of those who emigrated and their descendants who built new lives in their adopted homes in New Orleans and across the Southern United States’.

“The people of Ireland and New Orleans share a common bond of suffering and loss, and a spirit of endurance and hope in the face of catastrophe. The failure of the potato crop during the 1840s was a transforming event in Ireland, which changed the demographic and cultural landscape forever. Thousands of Irish people emigrated to New Orleans and between 1840 and 1860, New Orleans had a higher per capita Irish population than Boston or Philadelphia.

“The Irish Channel remains the centre of the St. Patrick’s Day festivities in New Orleans today.In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Irish people extended the same compassion and generosity to the people of New Orleans that our ancestors received during the most desolate period in our nation’s history. Indeed, the Irish Government committed €1 million to disaster relief in the immediate aftermath of the storm. €700,000 was given to the Red Cross for immediate use along the Gulf Coast and €300,000 was given to various community and civil service organisations.”

Further details in relation to the programme for the International Famine Commemoration including the date will be announced over the coming months.

The selection process to determine the site of the 2014 National Famine Commemoration, which is due to be held in Connacht, is currently underway.

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